Bomb plots targeting the New York Stock Exchange and the city's subway were among more than 50 worldwide thwarted by top-secret surveillance programs since the al Qaeda attacks on the United States, authorities said on Tuesday.

Gen. Keith Alexander, National Security Agency director, FBI and other officials revealed startling details at a House Intelligence Committee hearing aimed at finding out more about the telephone and e-mail surveillance initiatives that came to light this month through leaks of classified information to newspapers.

It was the most comprehensive and specific defense of those methods that have come under ferocious criticism from civil liberties groups, some members of Congress and others concerned about the reach of government into the private lives of citizens in the interest of national security.

National security and law enforcement officials asserted that the leaks were egregious and carry huge consequences for national security.

"I think it was irreversible and significant damage to this nation," Alexander said when questioned by Rep. Michele Bachmann.

"Has this helped America's enemies?" the Minnesota Republican asked.

"I believe it has and I believe it will hurt us and our allies," Alexander said.

President Barack Obama has defended the programs as necessary in an era of terror, and said they have been vetted by Congress and are subject to strict legal checks.

Wait, didn’t the vacationer-in-chief just tell us that the war on terror is over? Yet, just two weeks later we find that there have been over fifty thwarted terror attempts on Americans. So which is it?

NSA: We stopped an attack on the New York exchange from what we learned.

What is wrong with this picture?

_________________________

Their explanation: The meta data gathered from the phone calls ( their origin, destination, frequency and length of conversation ), gave them the SUSPICIOUS PATTERN to continue further, to get a warrant to then monitor the CONTENT.

The meta data gathered from the phone calls ( their origin, destination, frequency and length of conversation ), gave them the SUSPICIOUS PATTERN to continue further, to get a warrant to then monitor the CONTENT.

This is the one that was stopped in fall 2009 AFTER the Brits warned Zippo about it sometime in the spring of 2009 IIRC and AFTER Air Force One just happened to fly over NYC making everyone think there was another terrorist attack planned for NYC.

Oh wait, there was an attack planned.

Too bad everyone thought AF1 flying over NYC was Obama mocking the 9/11 attack or Obama could have blamed Bush had the attack been successful.

Not if you don't want to. It's the easy path. It requires no research, no discussion, no nothing.

You have probably noted that, with regard to the NSA controversy, there is no criteria any longer available to us that would allow us to believe in statements coming from the Government. And yes, we can thank Obama for that. But note that even those we have trusted for years have caught the Obama plague. They are no longer to be trusted either.

There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule although I believe those exceptions are temporary. They relate to our current belief that Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin don't lie. I expect Cruz to fail the test soon. Palin will take a little longer.

And then there will be nobody to trust.

36
posted on 06/18/2013 1:12:58 PM PDT
by InterceptPoint
(If I had a tag line this is where you would find it)

There is some news, at least for me, in item 5. Somewhat surprising that we didn't hear it from Snowden.

"5) Snowden Worked for the NSA for 15 Months at Time of Leaks. Although its been reported that Snowden had only been working for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton for three months at the time of the leaks, and had only been stationed at the NSAs Hawaii facility a few weeks prior to leaking, Alexander noted that Snowden had actually been working for the NSA under a different contractor during the 12 months prior to moving to Booz Allen Hamilton, which would have given him more time to scope out the network and determine which data he wanted to take."

40
posted on 06/18/2013 1:33:03 PM PDT
by InterceptPoint
(If I had a tag line this is where you would find it)

They use the “suspicious pattern” excuse (i.e. secret magic algorithm). They claim they can take your and my phone records and a trillion other pieces of information all of which is collected about Americans and apply the magic algorithm and out pops a list of suspects. BS. The problem is the exponential explosion of data combinations. The information is useless (except to be abused by a rogue administration.

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